Much has already been written in praise of blockchain technology and its potential to revolutionize enterprise businesses by offering fast, reliable, and cost-effective data sharing and business solutions. Many of the organizations have successfully implemented blockchain technology and are getting good returns on their investment. However, a part of technology executives doesn’t seem to be impressed by the blockchain technology and found it to be overhyped. Other argued that the adoption of blockchain technology did not result in a significant benefit for their businesses and overall, they found the technology far from revolutionary.
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Take, for instance, the example of the United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc. which has been experimenting with some blockchain features, but still has not been able to figure out any significant benefit associated with the adoption of technology. Elaborating further, the Chief Information and Engineering officer at UPS, Juan Perez said that the company is experimenting on blockchain technology for its number of projects including the one of tracking and managing claims made at UPS capital – a division of the company looking after finance and insurance of supply chain services. However, the company hasn’t been able to find a compelling reason to continue it. The executive said that he doesn’t see any significant benefit coming out from blockchain adoption in 2019 either primarily because the technology itself is in the phase of evolution and progression. He noted that the process of evolvement requires time and all the stakeholders need to come together for analyzing and evaluating the technology.
Similar views were expressed by Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President of United Airlines Inc., Linda JoJo. JoJo said that the company has a small team devoted to the blockchain technology, but they are not sure how to integrate the technology in their business ecosystem and more importantly, how the adoption of blockchain will bring extra profit to their accounts. Like JoJo, we have some technology executives who analyzed the blockchain technology this year though are still to find the best case for its adoption. Some examples include IBM Corporation, Walmart Inc., and Nestle which are involved in building a blockchain solution for tracking the supply chain of the food business around the globe. Some companies like Merck Inc. use the blockchain to share the data related to its drug shipping function while others like America Corp. has already gone ahead and patented many of the blockchain inventions.
Future Prospects
Gartner Inc., a technology-based research firm, suggests that the companies need to plan now how they are going to use blockchain in the future. According to the prediction of the company, the total value of blockchain business will reach over $360 billion by the end of 2026 and could even surpass $3.1 trillion by 2030.
Despite these optimistic numbers, many believe that blockchain technology has been overhyped this year. According to the Chief Information Officer, E-Trade Financial Corp, Lance Braunstein, “Blockchain has received more attention then I think it warranted.”
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